Come to the HC Bikeshare Feasibility Study Open House on February 4 in Jersey City

Dani Simons, Director of Marketing and External Affairs with NYC Bike Share explains the process of using the bicycles. NYC's Citibike system is the closest example to Hudson County of a working large-scale bikeshare program.AP

The Hudson County
Division of Planning, through a Together North Jersey Local Government
Capacity Grant Program, is exploring the feasibility of implementing a bike share system throughout Hudson
County with the Hudson County Bikeshare Feasibility Study.
While they are still in the exploratory
phase of the program, they would like to receive your feedback.

On Tuesday, February 4, there will be a Public Open House
in Jersey City so that you can share your ideas, suggestions and concerns.

For those who don't know, a bike share is an innovative
transportation program where system subscribers have access to bicycles through
self-service kiosk locations around the community. The system is accessed
through low-cost subscriptions ranging from a few dollars for one-day to annual
memberships that generally cost less than a bicycle tune-up.

Bike share is ideal for short distance, point-to-point trips
providing subscribers access to bicycles at any self-serve bike station to use
and return to any bike station within the system's service area. Most systems allow subscribers to make as
many trips as often as they like without additional charge provided they return
the bicycles to a system station within a half hour.

Operators generally begin to charge gradually increasing
fees after the first half hour to discourage users from holding onto the
bicycles when they are not being used, ensuring that bicycles are readily
available for other system subscribers. In
cities across the U.S., bike share systems have proven very popular and
successful by giving residents and visitors alike a fast, affordable, easy to
use transportation option that can make getting around town fun!

This project is funded by Together North Jersey, an
initiative funded in part through a Sustainable Communities Regional Planning
Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and
through a grant from the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, which
is allocating U.S. Department of Transportation funding.

Before the meeting, please take some time to explore the Hudson
County Bikeshare Feasibility Studywebsite. There is plenty of information regarding what
they hope to accomplish, an area to allow you to experience virtual bikesharing,
suggest kiosk locations and to sign up to receive updates on the progress of
the study.

The details for the Public Open House:

When:

Tuesday, 2/4/14, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Where:

Hudson County Freeholders Chambers

568 Pavonia Avenue, 3rd Floor, Jersey City

If you have questions about the project or the possibility
of bike share coming to Hudson County, please contact the project team at hudcobikeshare@tooledesign.com.

Together North Jersey is a collaborative partnership
dedicated to strengthening the region's economy and improving access to good
jobs, quality schools, safe and stable neighborhoods, a healthy environment,
fresh food, and civic and cultural resources. The Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and
Public Policy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is the
administrative and fiscal agent for Together North Jersey. For more information on Together North Jersey,
please visit www.togethernorthjersey.com
or contact Miriam Salerno.